Blog

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. One in five adults (43.8 million people) will experience a mental illness in any given year. The consequences of living with a mental illness or substance use disorder affect all areas of a person’s life, including work. Serious mental illness can also impact an employer’s bottom line and costs America $193.2 billion in lost earnings per year.

Did you know that starting January 1, 2019, California began allowing an individual applying for an original or renewal drivers’ license or identification card to self-identify as male (M), female (F) or non-binary (X)? Applicants in California can now self-certify their chosen gender category and do not need any type of documentation from a physician regarding gender or gender identity.

An increasingly common series of questions employers have been asking of late relate to their employees’ use of CBD. Will use of CBD products impair employees? If an employee or applicant tests positive on a drug test and blames seemingly innocuous use of CBD, what should we do? Should it be permissible to allow use of CBD products in a zero-tolerance workplace?

It may surprise you to learn that the number one type of federal employment claim is not harassment, it’s retaliation. That’s right – year over year, the majority of all claims filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission are for retaliation.

SB 1343, requires that all employers of 5 or more persons provide 1 hour of sexual harassment and abusive conduct prevention training to non-managerial employees and 2 hours of sexual harassment and abusive conduct prevention training to managerial employees by January 1, 2020.

For decades now, the California Equal Pay Act has prohibited an employer from paying its employees less than employees of the opposite sex for equal work. In 2016, the California Fair Pay Act was enacted to strengthen the Equal Pay Act.

A pivotal California decision on the issue of “reporting time pay, has expanded the definition of “time worked” here in California. In Ward v. Tilly’s, a divided California appellate court recently held that “reporting time pay” is owed to employees who have to call-in two hours in advance to see if they are on the schedule (and then are told not to come in to work).

If your company doesn’t have a strong meal and rest break policy, it may get eaten alive! Ever since the pivotal Brinker court decision in 2012, California law has been clear, but let’s review it again.

Companies defending against claims of harassment or discrimination might sometimes use the "equal opportunity jerk" defense. If this is the best defense your organization has, be careful! Not only is this a weak defense, but it can and will get your company in hot water.

The California Supreme Court recently held that payroll providers aren’t on the hook for paycheck errors and wage and hour violations. Instead, the employer alone is liable for wage and other pay violations

More than 1 in 4 workers indicated that due to recent high profile allegations of sexual harassment, office romances are not acceptable. Although opinions might be changing, 52% of survey respondents admitted to having had at least one office romance.

As the government shutdown continues due to disagreements between Congress and the Trump Administration, several services are impacted and may affect workplace employment-related issues. Read on to see what’s impacted and what's not.

The Department of Industrial Relations has issued a notice reminding employers of the upcoming minimum wage increases. Under legislation to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour over time, California’s minimum wage will increase on January 1 to $12 per hour for employers with 26 employees or more and to $11 per hour for employers with 25 or fewer employees.

The IRS has issued the 2019 optional standard mileage rate, with a significant increase for the new year. The optional standard mileage rate is used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes.

A new law for next year, SB 1343, requires that all employers of 5 or more employees provide 1 hour of harassment and abusive conduct prevention training to non-managerial employees and 2 hours of harassment and abusive conduct prevention training to managerial employees by January 1, 2020.

Small Business California (SB-CA) has announced their annual survey is now open to small business owners throughout the state. This survey is used to develop an action plan addressing concerns that were brought up to build a stronger small business community.

When it comes to preventing workplace harassment, a recent study by SHRM has mixed reviews. While there is some progress, there is also an absence of an overall cultural shift. For instance, two-thirds of executives have not changed their behaviors at all.

The state minimum wage will increase on January 1, 2019, to $12 an hour for employers with 26 or more employees and $11 an hour for employers with 25 or fewer employees. Because of this, the minimum salary for the administrative, professional and executive exemptions will also increase.